Monty returns to many of the gardens he visited in the spring to see how they've changed according to the season. The plant of greatest prominence in this season is the many varieties of Japanese maples, whose leaves are now in vibrant shades of reds, yellows and oranges. Much of the gardening work is in preparation for winter, from snowproofing the highly manicured trees, especially the pine trees, to protecting the plants from overwintering pests. He visits a garden designed in the seventeenth century Edo period, its austerity which makes it less variable to the seasons. He explores the nature of the stroll garden, whose meandering paths are meant to take one to key vista points. Just as the notion of the Japanese garden first came in consciousness in Britain in the early twentieth century, he visits a typical British rose garden designed in that same era. As he likes to do on any of his travels, he visits a garden center and speaks to shoppers to see what is in demand by the typical home gardener. As he did in the spring, he examines two more aspects of gardening that are in part an outcome of the lack of space, this time the well known art of bonsai, and the lesser known but emerging art of kokedama, translated as "moss balls". In that vein, he wants to see what the future of gardening is in densely populated Toyko, which not only has to take in the issue of limited space, but how things are set against the man made items, such as buildings, and electrical wires. He concludes his trip in Japan to a garden that encompasses every aspect already seen all into one, but which is meant to be viewed as a series of still life paintings.
—Huggo
